Scientists Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom

Among the recipients of the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom are Daniel Kahneman, a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and Mario Molina, a member of the NAS and the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded this year on Nov. 20 at the White House, is the nation's highest civilian honor. It is presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. This year marks 50 years since the medal was established by President John F. Kennedy.

Daniel Kahneman is a pioneering scholar of psychology whose work applying cognitive psychology to economic analysis along with Amos Tversky was honored with the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002.

Mario Molina is a visionary chemist and environmental scientist who earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 for discovering how chlorofluorocarbons deplete the ozone layer.